EUROPEAN PROJECTS

OPEN LATITUDES

By Latitudes contemporaines (Lille).
Noted from the outset for their geographical proximity and their affinity for how to properly accompany the artists, six European partners have gathered in Open Latitudes in order to defend the very existence of hybrid scenic forms coming from dance, and to acclimate more largely the audience to those innovating works. All partners contribute financially to the establishment of an annual ‘joint fund’. It is a fundamentally European co-production input, which benefits the supported artists. Shared among several partners, residency periods for more than 140 days during the lifecycle of the project, do complement this production process. Each partner organises visibility periods for the works developed along the season. Over time, they have become known as moments of discovery for curious audiences, and they play an important role in the way the audience can appropriate and further understand contemporary forms.Wishing to leave tracks, our project is also having a look at the recent history of hybrid performing arts in Europe. We wish to demonstrate and archive the trails of this scenic innovation, through video recordings of a dozen interviews of critics, art historians, choreographers, researchers … Along meetings, artists and audiences develop a relationship made of discovery and exchange, which constitutes a real intercultural dialogue at the European level.

In concrete terms, Open Latitudes aims at:Sustaining contemporary creationFostering the developement of new artistic forms derived from hybridationIncreasing dissemination of these cultural work Sustaining and deepening partnerships between cultural places which defend performing hybrid artsIncreasing and developping links established with european audiencesClosing up european citizens with hybrid scenic forms and getting their access being more democraticStimulating artistic meetings based on hybrid arts, particularly with young local artists aiming at being professionnalsGiving visibility and cultural recognition to hybrid scenic formsDisseminating information and critical approach about hybridation of scenic arts

coproductionsOpen Latitudes commits itself prior to the creative activity so as to support young performers and the early phases of their work, coming to their aid if there is an emergency. All partners contribute financially to the establishment of an annual ‘joint fund’, earmarked between five and eight productions in the lifecycle of the project. The collective dimension of this co-production fund, shared between all the co-organisers and our associate partner L’Arsenic, transcends the national confines of all members of Open Latitudes. So it is a fundamentally European co-production input, which benefits the supported artists. Such a device of partnership brings real innovation in the merely way cultural organisers establish links between themselves.

BEYOND BORDERS

Beyond borders revolves around a new figure currently playing a crucial role in European history: the foreigner, the migrant. In each and every country nothing less than the fabric of society is at stake: how do we react to foreigners and their demand to be part of society? What is it that binds society? How open or closed can or should that fabric be?

The foreigner, the migrant will be at the heart of four separate yet interconnected projects (spread over at least four countries) that will address these questions in different ways and for different audiences:

• Borderline, a theatre/dance production directed by Guy Cassiers which will be created with international dance students, recruited at dance schools in Belgium and France;

• Monsieur Linh and His Child, a theatre production directed by Guy Cassiers, of which each country will see its local language version with local actors;

• various versions of Soul Seekers, a performance/installation project by theatre director Mokhallad Rasem (being a former refugee himself) ensuing from direct interaction with refugees of local refugee centres;

• and Ctzns.eu, a digital platform assembling bottom-up, positive initiatives taken by citizens in response to the needs of (local) refugees, this platform being the result of an intense interaction between the refugees themselves, social organizations, students of journalism and active citizens in each of the partner venues.

This range of productions and local recreations, all of them different in size and means but strongly linked by theme, wants to mobilize and connect heterogenous groups of people: from the refugees in the various centres, to social organizations and bottom-up civic movements, to students and (future) theatre lovers.